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THE DESIGN OF MULTI-PURPOSE SHIPS INCORPORATING RO-RO FACILITIES

This paper demonstrates that Ro-Ro capability in a number of very different types of vessel has been provided in order to produce a most valuable degree of flexibility in cargo handling, and the extent to which designers consider or are advised that this flexibility is important will condition the degree of sophistication required in installed cargo access equipment. The "state of the art" situation is that the "open" ship design can, by the addition of a Ro-Ro capability, become transposed into a ship design which is immune to problems of cargo handling. This immunity or "transparency" the paper states, has been possible by the whole range of Ro-Ro equipment including stern, quarter and slewing ramps, bow visors, internal ramps, external/internal watertight doors, portable decks and platforms, vertical lifts, etc. These allow the naval architect a flexibility which will ensure that his ultimate design will satisfy all the demands made in the original marketing specification prepared by the shipowners' operating department. The paper distinguishes and describes a number of types of ship where the process of problem-solving has led to interesting and progressive design changes: Type 1--Cellular with Ro-Ro capability; Type 2--Ro-Ro with Cellular capability; Type 3--Ro-Ro with unitised/break-bulk capability; and Type 4--Cellular/Ro-Ro/Conventional carrier, i.e. a multi-purpose ship. In addition to detailed description of their features many accompanying diagrams and photographs are shown. Order from: BSRA as No. 47,444.